Front Gardens: Good for you, your street and the planet
The Front Gardens project examines the benefits of gardens and how they can help make a city more liveable.
Overview
Flash floods… heatwaves… headlines which are becoming increasingly familiar.
If you could do one thing to improve the situation in your street, would you do it?
The good news is that we can all do something to help – by planting more, especially in the front of our homes. One garden won’t change the world but every one helps. Even a few plants in a small space can help.
Watch our short video or read our e-leaflet to find out more:
More liveable streets and cities
Gardens allow a city to ‘sweat’ and an overgrown shrubbery provides better conditions for bugs than a neat lawn. There are many ways in which gardens make a city more liveable.
Find out more about the importance of your garden here.
“If you own a garden, you own one part of the solution to creating liveable and sustainable cities”.
What makes gardening good for you?
James Wong ponders whether we can identify exactly what makes gardening good for you in The Guardian article ‘Why is gardening so good for your mental and physical health?’
What can you plant to reduce the risk of flooding?
The rise in paving or tarmac on front gardens is a factor in more severe flooding in recent years. In a heavy downpour, the water has nowhere to go.
This short article recommends four plants that are great at absorbing water and suggests how to have your own rain garden to reduce the risk of your home being flooded.
What’s the best design for your front garden?
Front gardens make a first impression for your visitors, and change the face of your street. But for many of us, we need space to park the car. So how can we combine the car and a lovely front garden?
Find ideas on design from the Royal Horticultural Society.
How can gardening help with stress?
The difficulties of the pandemic have taken their toll on everyone and mental health issues, including stress, anxiety and depression, have increased. Gardening can help to reduce stress. A study on stress hormones found that even a few plants in the front garden can bring benefits.
Read the article in The Conversation
Resources
- Murtagh, N. & Frost, R. (2023) Motivations for urban front gardens: a quantitative study. Landscape and Urban Planning. Volume 238, 104835. https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0169-2046(23)00154-8
Frost, R. & Murtagh, N. (2023) Encouraging planting in urban front gardens: A focus group study. Perspectives in Public Health. 143(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/17579139231163738
Acknowledgments
Green Fronts research funded by UCL Health of the Public.
Get in touch
Principal Research Fellow, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction
Click to email. n.murtagh@ucl.ac.uk